Bank of England holds rates at 5.25% in final pre-General Election decision

Despite return to CPI target

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has opted to hold rates at 5.25% for the seventh time in a row today (20 June).

Two MPC members, Dave Ramsden and Swati Dhingra, voted again for a 25 basis points cut to 5%, against a majority of seven, who opted to hold rates. UK inflation returns to 2% target but June BoE cut remains unlikely The move follows positive inflation data for May from the Office for National Statistics, which revealed on Wednesday (19 June) that the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) fell back to 2% for the 12 months to May 2024 – reaching the BoE's inflation target. The most concerning data, however, included core CPI, which stood at 3.5% last month, and services inflation at 5.7%, whil...